HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



73 



tional. He saw no reason for con- 

 cliuiing, that the secrecy of the 

 communication was to be indefi- 

 nite, neither did lie think the pa- 

 per contained a charge againstany 

 person, unless, in as fltr as an at- 

 tempt, on the part of the noble 

 lord, to exonerate himself, might 

 be supposed to imply blame in 

 others. The best excuse for lord 

 Chatham, in not communicating 

 his narrative to his colleagues in 

 the first instance was, that from 

 the situation of the government at 

 home, he did not know who his 

 colleagues were, and therefore 

 went to the fountain head. He 

 would, however, vote for Mr. 

 Whitbread's motion. 



The chancellor of the Exche- 

 quer expressed great surprise at 

 the conclusion of Mr. Windham's 

 speech, as his arguments were all 

 on one side, and the vote he was 

 to give on the other. It was un- 

 questionably lord Chatham's in- 

 tention in writing that narrative, 

 which was his statement and de- 

 fence, to make it public at some 

 period. He did conceive that it 

 was unconstitutional to communi- 

 cate th.it statement directly to his 

 majesty, with a charge of secrecy. 

 This, however, was not a crime, 

 but a venial error, from which no 

 practical inconvenience had oc- 

 curred. If so, the justice of the 

 case might be satisfied, by adopt- 

 ing the previous question ; which 

 would imply, that the offence was 

 of a nature so slight as not to call 

 for a serious judgment. Mr. 

 Whiibread replied to the chan- 

 cellor of the Excliequer, and also 

 to Mr. Bankes,and lo Mr. Stephen. 

 He was asked, '♦ Will you be so 

 inhuman as to tear the stones from 

 the monumeot of the father, to 



bruise the head of the son ?" He 

 would appeal to those, who had 

 opportunities of judging of his ha- 

 bits and feelings, whether in pri- 

 vate life he was capable of violat- 

 ing any of tliose social aflectinns 

 that bound man to man. But 

 here he was not his own master. — 

 He would discharge hfs duty as an 

 honest and independent servant of 

 the people, and liold up the proud, 

 noble and unconstitutional conduct 

 of William, Ear! of Chatham, as a 

 glaring contrast with the suspi- 

 cious, clandestine, and unconsti- 

 tutional conduct of John Earl of 

 Chatham. Mr. Whitbread, in the 

 course of his speech, animadvert- 

 ed, insome instances withseverity, 

 on the inconsistencies in the evi- 

 dence given by lord Chatham, on 

 his examination. There were 

 other inconsistencies, he said, 

 which it was not now necessary 

 for him to dwell on, as they had 

 been so clearly pointed out by his 

 right hon. friend Mr. Ponsonby. 

 — He trusted, in conclusion, that 

 the house would not suffer the 

 right hon. the chancellor of the 

 Exchequer to take refuge under 

 the shabby shelter of the previous 

 question, and give the country an 

 opportunity of saying, that par- 

 liament dare not to doitsduty. Ge- 

 neral Loft vindicated the conduct 

 of lord Chatham, and assured the 

 House^ that the noble lord had 

 expressed to him his readiness to 

 come back, and answer to any 

 points in his evidence, that were 

 supposed to want explanation. 

 General Grosvenor, as to the 

 alledged inconsistencies in the 

 noble lord's evidence, said, he 

 had hoped, that the noble lord, 

 in the conversation he had held 

 with Mr. Whitbread, at the bar, 



